 "Centre new policy on refugees helps AGP hope for comeback")
With illegal Bangladeshi immigration always a burning issue in Assam, the present decision of the central government is being seen by many as against the interests of Assam. Many students’ and youth organisations have hit the streets in Assam opposing the Centre’s decision. They don’t want to let any illegal Bangladeshi, be it Hindu or Muslim, stay on Assam’s soil. The Assam Accord, which was signed in 1985 and brought an end to six-year long bloody anti-foreigners agitation in the state, had categorically stated that those who have entered the state after midnight of March 24, 1971 would be branded as illegal foreigner and would be expelled out of Assam. Many in Assam see the move as a violation of the Accord.
“The Central government has decided, on humanitarian considerations, to exempt Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities who have entered into India on or before 31st December, 2014 from the relevant provisions of rules and order made under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946, in respect of their entry and stay in India without such documents or after the expiry of those documents, as the case may be,” Union home ministry press communiqué dated September 7. The Central government has accordingly issued two notifications in the Official Gazette under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946.
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The Centre’s decision is also seen as a move to help the BJP get the Hindu Bengali votes in the state elections, which is due next year. Vying to have a share of the pie too, the state’s congress party, which has a history of siding with the Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, too has welcomed the decision. Hindu Bengali voters are in significant numbers in three Barak Valley districts in south Assam.
The AGP, which has been fast fading out of Assam’s political scenario, has seized the development to position itself as champion of the cause of Assamese. AGP sees that if exploited properly, the Centre’s decision could be turned into an advantage for the party. It wants to cash in on people’s anti-Bangladeshi sentiments, the same sentiments that had once brought it to power. The party, which was formed with the culmination of the Assam Agitation, contested its maiden assembly election in 1985 and won a massive electoral mandate, riding on anti-Bangladeshi sentiment. However, there had been a gradual decline in its support base since then due to its failure in solving the vexed illegal Bangladeshi immigration problem. It again formed government in Assam between 1996 and 2001 and thereafter electoral defeats became routine in the fate of the party.
So harsh has been the fall in the electoral graph of AGP that it was relegated to fourth position in Assam Assembly in 2011. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party drew a complete blank.
From sit in demonstrations to protest marches to hunger strikes, the party is now trying every trick in the book to impress upon the Assamese-speaking people make an electoral comeback.
“We will not accept this decision at any cost. This is against the interests of Assam. This is against the Assam Accord. If we don’t oppose now, the time is not far when Assamese-speaking people will become minority in Assam,” said Atul Bora, president of AGP. To drum up support, the party has been organising protest marches and sit in demonstrations at several places in Upper Assam, which was once its stronghold. The party says there are around 20 lakh Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam, which amounts to roughly around 7% of total Assam’s population.